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tv   Washington Journal  CSPAN  October 2, 2012 7:00am-10:00am EDT

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a recent report on how high school students are to sat's. "washington journal" is next . host: good morning and welcome to washington journal on this tuesday, october 2, 2012. president obama and former governor mitt romney are in final preparations for tomorrow night's debate at the university of denver, the first time the candidates will square off in the race for the white house. c-span will air the debate live tomorrow night. we would like to hear what your plans are for tomorrow night's debate. why would you be watching or by night? here are the numbers to call --
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-- why will you be watching or why not? you can also join the conversation on social media. send us a tweet or join the conversation on facebook. you can also e-mail us. the "washington times looks at presidential debates, who watches and what they gain for it -- from it.
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we would like to hear from you this morning, your take on watching presidential debates and this one in particular happening tomorrow. here is the headline from the denver post -- the school is getting ready for the national spotlight as it will host the candidates tomorrow night. let's hear from tyson in los angeles on our republican line. good morning. caller: happy birthday to you, libby. host: are you watching the debate? caller: absolutely. it is the two candidates day in court, so to speak, meeting
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face-to-face group politics. no teleprompters. get true face to face questions and answers. host: what do you hope to learn from the debate? are you watching to root for your candidate or watching to learn something? caller: i'm always wanting to learn and listening to learn, but i have to see these two candidates face to face without admitting everything they have to say -- without ad-libbing. we have only seen speeches and commercials. this is a true presidential debate which i cherished and i hope to learn a lot. host: happy birthday to you. dale.dayo
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will you be watching? caller: i will. i want to see what romney is about and what is going to do. host: have you made up your mind? caller: not really. host: john is on the independent line from maine. caller: yes, i will be watching. i'm a student of human nature, that's all. politicians will always be politicians. i'm not a fanatic on either side. i am just watching to -- their promises don't mean nothing. if they are not backed up with the congress and the senate, they don't mean anything. but it's nice to watch to see a what they will promise, if anything.
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i am from an old school of politics. i was brought up in new york at the tail end of tammany hall. they were not exactly straight -- anyway. i will watch out of curiosity to see how they present themselves more than anything else. i don't have a particular party. paul joins us on the republican line from west virginia. caller: when i am concerned about is the moderator. during the republican debates, fox news did one of the debates and that was -- they asked the more important questions and it was probably the best debate there was. but now we have four left-wing liberal moderator's and i am sure they will skew the debate.
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they will ask the questions in such a way that it will give obama the edge. but i will be watching and hoping romney does well. host: let's look at who the moderators are. a story from the new york times --
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>> it shows us the images of the individuals who will be the moderator is. we see martha raddatz of abc news, she will moderate the vice-presidential debate. she's the only one was not an anchor. bob schieffer of cbs news as well as candy crowley. there are stories in the paper looking at what the candidates seem to do -- aim to do. lawrence is joining us from
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michigan on the democratic line. will you be watching tomorrow night? are you with us? let's go on to bill in edgewater, florida, independent. caller: good morning. i will definitely be watching. i was brought up in the republican household. but i have been paying attention to the debates and seeing a lot of shows on what the issues aren't. -- are. i don't have the confidence after the republican convention that they have a plan, because they have been avoiding giving any specifics. so i really want to hear if republicans really have something to say. other than that, i really moved to an independent position.
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i am willing to vote for somebody who comes up with a good plan. host: what will you listen for in particular tomorrow night, bill? the economy, health care, what issues are important to you? caller: i thinik i want more honesty from the republicans instead of evasiveness. i feel they have been dodging questions, not revealing their taxes, and not giving any alternatives to what obama has already proposed. from the obama side, i would like to hear the reasons why some of their positions and not been passing through the congress. host: this from don --
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you can give us a call and tell us what you are looking for as the debate season commences. the baltimore sun has this piece -- dan barry, connecticut, keith on
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our republican line. caller: i will not be watching the debate tomorrow night. i have seen enough of the show that they put on and it's not real. the questions are staged and the moderators are chosen by the candidates. the questions are preselected. only certain people [no audio] they will disagree on a couple things to make some highlights in tomorrow's news. other than that, you have two of the same guys on either side of the stage in a choreographed event. there's lots of other strings that are choreographed on tv that would be a lot more entertaining than this staged event for a candidate that the gop forced down everybody's throats. nobody wanted him last time or this time, but they will continue to beat the drum and
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say this is there a guy. but i think you will see that after tomorrow, obama's numbers will probably get even stronger. it's a shame they did this to us. if you had a strong candidates like ron paul, obama would not be able to stand on that stage. host: this on twitter -- we are getting comments coming to us from facebook -- ken edgett in dallas, texas, independent. -- kenneth in dallas. caller: i am strictly an
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independent thinker. i am going to watch the debate probably when i get off work. my thought is this, when is this country going to wake up and stop losing american lives and the whole middle east is ridiculous. it is in worse shape than it was 10 years ago. $3 trillion in debt and each side points to the other guy. the democrats were in control for four years, two under bush and two under obama, yet it was all bush's fault and nobody takes responsibility. that's the problem. the voters need to take responsibility and get rid of every one of the incumbents,
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it's maybe not in this election, but if they don't get this country straightened out and get the economy straightened out, but just take one election in two years, if it's not better, get rid of every one of them and they will finally get the message. host: let's look at some national news stories. this story from the new york times --
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and this other story in the times -- looking at other international news stories on long lines of what our last caller was talking about, whether international news is getting attention.
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and this in the washington post -- the debate tomorrow night will focus on domestic issues. what would you be listening for? if you're not going to watch, why? monty writes -- in new orleans on the republican line, eustice. caller: good morning. i don't know how anything can change. romney would have to come up with something. is way he's campaigning, like everything is a joke, but it's quite serious. when i met gingrich i said i
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hope the election is not lost by the republicans on the color line. it seems like it's almost over although i wish him well. host: an independent scholar, ann in virginia. caller: i will be watching, definitely. in fact, it's probably going to be the highest watched debates ever, just because people are anxious to see what mitt romney will talk about, because he has gone this far and it feels to me like his campaign has been i am not barack obama. we want to hear specifics. i am just concerned and his approach. i just want to see what it's going to be. i voted for the president the
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last election even though i am independent. there's a lot about the republican platform, the party platform that i agree with and there's a lot about the democratic party platform i don't agree with. but when it comes to leadership, it has been really embarrassing to watch mitt romney. it is just sad. so this will be his chance. peter he will pull it off or not. i am not going to vote for him just because of-principle of- he will pull it off or not. i am not going to vote for a mormon. it is the core of who he is because of his leadership in the turkischurch for 10 years. i feel that influences a lot of his decisions. host: nothing he can say tomorrow night would change your opinion? caller: no, but i would like to see him still be a viable
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candidate and have some ideas. the people who are surrounding him, his staff members, are the ones who really want to get in the white house, because they are planning to lead the white house. i don't believe he has what it takes to be a leader in the white house. host: a tweet -- which are asking whether you plan to watch tomorrow night's debate and why? here's some history. let's look at what was the most watched debate. 1980. cynthia in savannah, georgia, democratic line. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call. yes, i am a democrat and i have
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been all my life. i worked in the medical profession 40 years, therefore, i am very interested in what's happening in the medical sector, as far as medicare. i recently fell into the donut hole, so i understand it seriously. now i'm retired and on a fixed budget, so that's my first priority. i will be listening wednesday night. i have been listening ever since and republican convention and even before then. so i am very interested. host: what are you hoping to gain from watching? some idea -- i feel my president has grown in many areas as far as foreign affairs, which i don't know much
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about. but i think mr. romney has the ability to lead a company. when i was an heiress, there's the difference between a manager and a head nurse and a staff nurse. therefore, he has the ability to lead companies. but i think it takes a special person to lead the country. -- i was a nurse. host: we have a poll on our facebook page asking whether you plan to what the presidential debates tomorrow night. joe in atlanta, republican line.
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caller: how are you? yes, i am watching the debate. i want romney to ask a question of president obama about why mr. obama sent them to beat a black man in south st. louis in 2009 , a cancereth survivor. he was selling trinkets at the town hall meeting to pay his bills. you can find it on line, the beating of a black man at the st. louis town hall meeting. claire mccaskill tried to cover it up along with others and they got money from the unions if they would get a non-conviction for pulling him out of the line and calling him the n word and starting to be him up. that's a hate crime and they got away with it.
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i sent romney that question to ask of obama to see if obama is the new grand wizard of the clan. host: here is a tweet -- billy bob in augusta, georgia on the democratic line. caller: libby, i feel like i have died and gone to heaven, but the guy from atlanta would just called, what a waste of phone call. please. but, anyway, i will watch. i think jim lehrer has stayed too long. i watched him in 2008 and he looked like willie mays. he was missing the curve ball by 18 inches and he really needs to step back.
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yes, i will watch. i want to hear what these men have to say. that guy from berkeley springs, west virginia, carl, the old geezer, he gets through about every two weeks and complaints. one more thing, brian lamb is much better looking than you. host: i won't argue. let's go to stanley on our independent line. do you plan to watch tomorrow night's debate? caller: no. this only one thing that can save the country and that to replace the irs with a fair tax. the top 20 countries in the world, we have the worst tax system. i am in the care society, living on social security. i could have a yard sale and all tax free. i put all my money back into the country.
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i spread it around, all the stores i go through and so on and so forth. i am the researcher for 14 friends and relatives with documented information on who in congress want to replace the irs. there are about eight or nine of them. allen west, i'm surprised he did not go into the system. if hope to be got in, he would ever placed it also. and we would not be stuck with this. abee got in, hee would have replaced it. i had a son who used to fish near the oil larigs and there's the moratorium problem.
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meanwhile, i will just share with my friends all the information and concentrate on making cash money. host: let's look at how taxes are coming to bear in washington right now as well as on the presidential campaign trail. there's a study that shows -- and the washington post created a graphic that looks at how much more you pay if the fiscal cliff
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happened. it shows the bracket range. there are other stories in the paper looking at the question of the fiscal cliff and what congress is expected to do and whether or not congress does expect act. we will look at a couple of those this morning as well. we're asking whether you plan to what the presidential debates and why. a couple days ago there was this --
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julia in new york on our republican line. caller: hi, and thanks for letting me have this time. i am very worried. i am watching the debate. of course i will watch the debate, because i want everything about politics, because i know that we are on the brink of a major change. this is the end of the republican party if romney does not get in, because of the changing face of america. what i want to say to the people is that i, as a citizen, i'm 72 years old and haven't am many generations in this country, i have never been so ashamed of the press. they have sold their souls to
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the double. they lost their integrity, because they are so biased. -- they have lost their souls to the devil. they are running the campaign in favor of obama. he has a completely failed four years. i know that he probably tried, but he's a socialist. that's how he wants this country to go, to become a socialist country. that might be good for a lot of people, but it's not good for me. it's not the america i remember. i can tell everybody out there that mitt romney is -- i don't know anything about him, but i do know that he is able to get jobs for people, create jobs. that is the most important thing. the defense of our country really is the most important thing. this president's attitude towards the mideast has caused the whole middle east to be up in flames.
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everybody can watch on their television. what do they think this is caused by? it is caused by a very weak attitude towards -- these terrorists are irrational. any person that would put a bomb on their children and send them into a restaurant, you're never going to rationalize with them, because they want to go to paradise, to heaven. how anybody can dig their going to talk to him -- he is naive and was never equipped to be president. i was very happy that he got in because he was black and i thought that was a wonderful thing for america, could have a black president, but i really don't understand how anybody can vote him in again. host: let's look at an opinion piece in the wall street journal.
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other opinions stories today --
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we're asking whether you plan to what the presidential debate tomorrow night. in's hear from rachel florida and on our democrat line it. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to hear romney be more specific. i don't like when he says wait until after the election before he tells us anything. ryan did the same thing this past sunday on the talk shows. he was asked to go more into specifics on the tax exemption. he said most people would not understand the math. how about giving me the arithmetic? host: what are you looking for tomorrow? caller: i would like to see how romney will spin his comments about the 40% of americans being freeloaders. my dad was a world war ii veteran. when he came back, he defended
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of the gi bill for all home loans. i guess he would be a freeloader according to romney. host: let's look at an article -- that sometimes. an independent caller in wisconsin, bill. caller: i am planning on watching tomorrow night.
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there's a lot of questions that i would be asking if i were there, of both of them. why have the democrats nor the republicans looked at our social security, which is going under? what has happened to all the ious that they have taken money from social security? when are the democrats and republicans going to decide to have to pay all of these back? that's the reason it's going broke. after paying into it for years as a vietnam veteran and everything else, people are hurting out here is my understanding. none of the seniors have ever really gotten much of an increase. the congress and senate are always getting increases for their wages. i don't think that should be right. that should be left up to the people of their communities.
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that's one reason i will be watching it. i hope someone would please ask that question, when are you going to pay back the social security money and how are you going to do it without raising any more taxes? host: this on twitter -- joanne in pennsylvania, republican line. caller: good morning. host: the plan to watch? caller: definitely. we still have a lot to learn about domestic policies and to get actual answers. ryan was not giving specifics on his campaign. but pelosi with obamacare said pleads vote for this and then we will find out what is in it. so it's both sides doing that. i am a reagan republican.
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i did vote for obama and i'm embarrassed with our president on many levels. i'm hoping to have romney bring this country back to where it needs to be. my question for the debate was what did obama right about at harvard? we don't have access to newspapers. he always talked about being transparent. i would like to hear what he was writing about and harvard. host: on facebook --
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and you can read more on our facebook page. jeffrey in michigan on the democratic line. caller: good morning. thanks for letting me talk on c- span. i don't plan on watching the debate, because it's going to be the same old thing over and over again. i am fairly well-informed. you've got so many people that are uninformed and they call in to c-span. they give us such a great opportunity to speak and then get such ignorant people calling in. i listen, i read, and i inform myself. obama is not really doing anything as far as i can see. i don't blame him for the jobs and that kind of stuff.
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what i don't like about him is he is keeping this war going. i listen to some independents yesterday and they made more sense than anybody. we are just wasting money on other countries and people are really suffering here. we probably won't get a social security raised this year, probably about $60 or $70. but we can waste trillions on war? the iraq war went on about four years or five years or something like that. afghanistan, 10 years. he is talking about going down from there in the year 2014 or something like that. i cannot vote for this man. to my african-american friends,
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obama does not understand our problems as black people. i'm not trying to be racist. he is part collocation and part african-american. he does not understand are suffering. so i think someone needs to get off the kool-aid and stop believing what everyone says. aucasian.part colloc stop bombing innocent people. now they want to go to war with iran. i don't blame him for the economy, because i know the republicans are not cooperating with him. i am not going to watch. it's just going to be the same old thing over and over. host: on twitter --
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jeff in florida on our independent line. caller: thanks for letting me talk on your show. you are probably the best independent news network on television. what i want to see happen at this debate is for the moderator's to ask the most important questions that have not been asked in this campaign. that is nuclear safety. since we had fukushima, japan, we found out that mother nature can exact a rant that is pretty substantial. i have personally put into mitt romney's hands and into an joe biden's hands information about the new technology that exists today replacing uranium with thorium. it's ready to use now and has been tested by the world nuclear
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association. it has been approved everywhere in the world to be used. it is so much safer than uranium. the united states has the third largest supply of it in the world. i honestly believe that if the american people are told about this -- granted, it is new technology, so it has not been out there long time for people to know about it, but somebody has to bring it to the forefront. are you still with me? host: we are listening. caller: for 30 years, this company developed and protected this technology. it is 400% safer to operate. it operates at 375 degrees, not 1500. you cannot make a bomb out of it. it is such a core element that you cannot make a nuclear bomb out of it. even if someone were to bomb the
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plant, in order for the element must be --, so it would not operate. host: here's a story in the wall street journal -- another story about the debates season --
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that the report from the wall street journal. we have asked you whether you would. want the presidential would. sparta,ar from edith in georgia on the democratic line. caller: yes, i will be watching it. i would not miss it. i am very engaged, politically. i must say, i don't think anything will be changed for me. my mind is already made up. i know who i will be voting for. i know where both candidates stand on issues important to me. i am not interested in the sing -- the zingers. i don't care about anyone's birth certificate or college grades. but i think it will be
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entertaining. more people need to be politically engaged. host: we have had a poll on our facebook page this morning asking whether or not you plan to what the presidential debate? 107 people say yes, they do plan to watch. a much smaller number say they don't plan to tune in. c-span will be airing that. coming up next on washington journal, we will hear from a reporter at the boston herald to tell us about the health care law that governor romney shepherded in when he was governor of massachusetts in 2006. and later on, social media and the internet and how they are affecting campaign 2012. we will be right back. ♪d >> ♪ ♪>> ♪
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>> this is the first parish church in brunswick, maine. its significance to the story of an uncle tom's cabin is in many ways the story began here. in is in this new number 23 that harriet beecher stowe saw a vision of uncle tonoose being whipped to death. all cocom, as you probably know, is the title character, bureau "uncleher 1853 not vel cabin."ptainm's if anyone in the north or to aid or abet a fugitive slave, they
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themselves would be imprisoned or fine for breaking the law. the bill was seen as a compromise between the north and south to avoid war. so that was part of what the novel was trying to do, to say i'm a christian and i'm against slavery, as was most of new england and it's my right to help a slave to find himself or herself in our borders, we have the right to do that because we're not a slave state and we should be allowed to practice our love as we see fit. >> more this weekend on c-span2, behind-the-scenes of the history and literary life of augusta, maine. and 5:00 p.m. on. 3-- and at 5:00 p.m. on c-span3
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as well. >> "washington journal" continues. host: christine mcconville is a reporter at the boston herald, here to talk to was about the health care law that governor romney's signed when he was governor in 2006. banks for joining us this morning. -- thanks. guest: good morning. host: take us back in time to the debate in massachusetts. what was romney's role in getting the health care law signed and pushed forward? was he someone who initiated the process? guest: he was part of a massive effort. it was a bipartisan effort that involved politicians, business leaders, small-business owners. but he was the governor at the time. he was the one who signed into law. as a backdrop, we as a nation are dealing with ever-increasing
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health care costs. as the health care costs go up, we are also dealing with a large number of people who don't have insurance. the massachusetts health reform law was designed to tackle both, but it got to the insurance part first. so it was a bipartisan group effort. romney signed into law. host: >> it hits on the issue of insurance, what was it intended to do? guest: romneycare is basically a teetwo-part process. the first artist to get people insurance coverage. the second part, which is happening now in massachusetts, is to lower health-care costs. what romneycare did was to say
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we have all these people who are getting hurt or are ill and not treating their illness because they don't have health insurance. hospitals are required to care for them. . ultimately, we as taxpayers pay back money. romneycare upended the process and said we will take steps so that everyone elsdid tell the insurance. people may be a diabetic with complications from diabetes and they can routinely go and see a primary care position instead of waiting until there's a massive flareup and going to the emergency room and then the hospital bill is out of sight. the other thing is, in massachusetts and most other states, let's say you have a roofer who works for himself and does not have felt insurance.
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he falls off a house and breaks his back. he will wind up in a hospital and the hospital cannot say we will not take care of you. they will treat him. one thing could happen is he essentially goes bankrupt trying to pay his medical bills. or the hospital end up absorbing the cost and that goes into the uncompensated care pool. governor romney said we are already paying for people one way or another that don't have change thisso let's and get everybody insurance to get people healthier, to close the gap in this pool. it's a little more complicated than that. the federal government's was offering massachusetts $385 million, i believe, and that covered about half of the cost of providing care to uninsured
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people. governor romney had said at i have an opportunity to save the state a lot of money, because if we did not take the federal money, it would have gone away, we would not have access to it anymore. with health care reform, we are able to accept this large sum of money and free some of the cost of providing care for people who don't have health insurance. host: we're learning about the health care law that governor romney signed into law in massachusetts with the reports from the boston herald christine mcconvillechristine. she's been with the herald five years. she also reported for the boston globe before that. we have a phone line set up especially for massachusetts residents. and republicans and democrats can call us as well as independent scholars. -- callers.
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let's look at some details of how the health care law has played out. 98% of adults are now covered. nearly 100% of children are covered. insurance premiums have about $70.veby take us through how this plan has worked out. guest: most people would tell you the effort to get people insured has worked out astoundingly well. the state now has the numbers you gave, people have insurance. however, the cost of insurance for everybody has increased. advocates of the health care law will say the first goal was to get everybody insured and we accomplished that. now we are tackling health care
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costs. so, i guess the results are a little mixed. have's no disputing that covered and have insurance. however, the costs have increased, but state officials say we're working on the cost now. host: this graphic shows -- how have employers responded to this? what is their reaction been? have they been able to include more employees under their plant? and what happens if an employer says i cannot afford to cover you? guest: a couple things.
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most employers are dealing with the plant. there are some small-business owners who are saying the cost is onerous and they are pushing people onto the state connector. they cannot afford to pay for the coverage, which has gone up and up. so -- can you repeat the question? gues our businesse host: our businesses responding and how can they opt out of it? guest: it depends on the business. if it is a massive corporation, that's not really an issue. they have enough employees to share the risk. if it is a small business under 50 employees, they can have their employees shop around through the new massachusetts health-insurance connector.
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and some businesses are opting to pay a fine instead of providing health insurance to their employees. and some small businesses are really complaining a lot about the spike in costs. state officials will tell them, ok, we have everybody insured, now we are trying to drive down the cost. host: let's go to the phones. patricia from danberry, connecticut on our republican line. caller: governor romney's plant in massachusetts did not limit or do anything to stop the very height lawsuits -- high lawsuits. guest: the romney plan was a was a targeted at
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providing enough people with health insurance. the offshoot of that is medical doctors are saying that we are doing less defensive medicine these days. the massachusetts medical society issued a report yesterday called "the work -- the state of the work force study" or something like that. they do find that there's been a little shift and the doctors are now ordering fewer tests -- you know the concept of defensive medicine? host: sure. guest: should i explain the concept of defensive medicine? a patient comes in and a doctor says i think you have a headache, you are complaining of headaches, so let's order all these tests and special scans to make sure you don't have a brain
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tumor, so you don't come back to be in five months and sue me for missing this. the medical profession will tell you they are ordering fewer tests because now they are seeing their patients on a more routine basis and they're not complaining of a severe headache after not having seen a doctor for seven years because they have insurance and bacon make primary care visits. so they don't show up at the emergency room. host: let's hear from five and on the democratic line in massachusetts -- forrom ivan. caller: we need a single payer system. any intelligent person can see that. this was a good first step. i think that ted kennedy and the state legislature have all the credit for our system in massachusetts. governor romney is a con man.
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he's a flimflam artist. he's one of these corporate pitchman. he will say whatever. he started out being so liberal. he was practically a socialist running for massachusetts. the sec and the got elected, he changed his whole focus to run for the presidency. he dumped the people of massachusetts. he's not a man anyone should trust. -- the second he got elected, he changed his whole focus to run for the presidency. he's like a chicken with his head cut off even regarding health care. he's a joke. please don't vote for this man. he's a horrible. he is a disaster. what he did to us was disgraceful. he lied to the people of massachusetts. host: sounds like you are relatively pleased with the health care plan? caller: absolutely, and he had very little to do with it.
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host: tell us more about how instrumental governor romney was. you said he was the governor. but what were the negotiations and conversations that happened leading up to the passage of health-care law in massachusetts? was he?olved guest: i don't know. i know there was a lot of bipartisan efforts. ted kennedy did play a huge role. health insurers have a voice. different public policy groups, academics. i could not speak to how involved romney was. host: john is an independent caller in new york. caller: the first thing caller: the first thing we need is everyone involved in health care. get a single-payer health care. get the insurance companies out of it. it needs to be 1%, or to% of
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gross income without deductions, and that means corporations also, everybody paying in. stop people from getting free health care every time they have a broken fingernail. i paid for over 40 years for my family health care, and now that i am disabled, if i could not afford the health care they offered me after i left work because it was 10% higher than i was paying. it would take my whole social security check right now to pay for health care. i want to know where this healthcare is that i'm supposed to be able to get. i have been disabled for seven years and i have no health care. host: christine mcconville, you talked about people fighting the health care law, including a man who was fed up.
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he became his own lawyer and filed a lawsuit against massachusetts public health insurance. why is this gentleman fighting the state, what is his goal, and how is it turning out? guest: well, not to understand the fundamentals of the massachusetts law, you have to understand the mandate, which is a huge issue in the supreme court. in massachusetts, they wanted to make sure that everybody had health insurance, that it was available to people with pre- existing conditions, disabilities. if you are on your own, and you want to get health insurance, you are not paying through the roof. in order for this to work, there had to be a catch all in the law that set everybody will be in,
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or nobody will begin. we cannot have people pick and choose. during negotiations insurance companies were concerned, if they were forced to write insurance for everyone, when people come along and -- would people come along, had every treatment they need in seven years done in three months and then opt out of the system. the individual mandate worked to prevent that. it is a three-legged stool here in massachusetts. everybody has to have insurance, but the insurers cannot pick and choose who they can provide care for, and then if you are under a certain income level, but if you do not qualify for the government subsidized -- the working poor
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-- there is government money to subsidize your care, so that people cannot say it is not constitutional, i cannot afford it. michael melina a fascinating case. he is a glass cutter from redding, mass., working as grandparents firm. they only had a few employees, and typically, they will have somebody that works outside of the small business provide the coverage. if your husband is employed by a corporation, you would get the health insurance for the corporation. the small glass cutting firm did not provide health insurance. michael went to the state and said he had been on the health insurance connector, which was this new agency formed for people like him. if you do not get insurance through your company, you do not
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qualify for government programs. you could go on to the connector, which is like a shopping mall for various insurance programs. he said i have a wife that is out of work, a mortgage, condominium fees, a car payment -- he detailed his expenses, and he said he cannot afford the six ended $28 for my monthly health- insurance -- $620 for my monthly health-insurance premium. if the state said we think you can, and you should buy this program or that program. we do not think you can go without insurance. so, he decided to sue the state because he felt they were not being fair to him and infringing on constitutional rights. what the state does, if you do not have proof -- prince of
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health insurance when you pay your annual texas, they will employ a penalty. -- proof of health insurance when you pay your annual texas, they will employ a penalty, and it grows. michael merlina paid for the first two years, then thought it was outrageous, and became a poster that read poster boy for pushing back -- poster boy for pushing back, how can the state forced me to pay for something i think i can not afford? whose definition of affordability is it? there was publicity, the lawsuit when ford, and we were able to report that a number of people were able to take on the state, and there are separate branches that now handle appeals to the connector where people have said i had done the numbers and i
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cannot afford it. host: christine mcconville is a reporter at "boston herald." we're talking about the health care law governor romney signed into law in 2006 and we are getting information about how it has changed over time. linda joins us from tennessee on our democrats line. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask her about hospitals. if you have been in a hospital and 30 days later you have to go in, like obama-care, television stations yesterday said obama- care would find anyone who is on medicare who was in the
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hospital, and within 30 days later, the hospital would be fined, a big fine. host: do you have any more information, linda? we will go on. christine mcconville, do you know of aspects like that in massachusetts? guest: there are a little bit of those. the massachusetts law signed into law by governor romney, focuses strictly on getting people insured. they said we would give people access to health care, and then we will look at driving down health-care costs. that is going on right now. a few months ago, governor deval patrick signed into law a bill aimed at reducing the cost of part 2 of health care reform in massachusetts. under that effort, there are a
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number of things going on, but one is they are trying to get doctors to care for the whole patient, instead of what is called a fee for service. if i were to go into the hospital tomorrow and get a cast for a broken arm, antibiotics, a painkiller, it's cetera, all of those items -- my insurance company would be paying for each of those items. there is a push for global payments where a person becomes a client of a medical group, and pays the medical group, let's say, $2,000 a year. if the medical group provides the care, and stays under the budgeted amount, then that group either gets a bonus at the end of the year, or maybe they
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get more money to spend at the end of next year. if they treat the person and the person continues to get sick, and a skyrocket past the $2,000 amount -- these are just around about numbers, then the medical group would be fined in some way for not keeping the cost low. i think maybe what you are talking about when you say if you get hospital the admission after being sick, you will have to pay a fine -- the aim of what is happening in massachusetts is to cut down on readmission, keeping people healthy in the whole, and there is also something called medical group homes that i could get into, if you want. i want to separate out that the massachusetts health care law is that get everybody injured, and
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now deal with the costs. what we call obama-care, or the affordable care act is dealing with both of those at the same time, he and they are trying -- and they are trying to get their arms around both the people that are uninsured, those the weight for a disaster to go for -- to the emergency room, instead of seeing a physician before problems get out of control, and they're also trying to put their arms around rising health-care costs. people will tell you they are one in the same. if your health insurance is so expensive, you lost your job, and your cobra payment is $1,000 a month, you will not be insured. the federal law tried to take on everything at once. massachusetts is different in that access to insurance, that
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has basically been done. now they are dealing with the cost. host: here is some information about the story that our previous caller mentioned. it's as medicare finds over hospitals readmitted patience. the associated press says -- we are talking with christine mcconville of "boston herald" this morning, and nancy rights in on twitter and says if anything, the massachusetts health care reform shows it takes time to implement reform.
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catherine is on the line. hi. capt., go ahead, you are on the air. -- catherine, go ahead, you are on the air. caller: a i was on the health- care when my husband was between jobs. i found that the massachusetts health care law was better than what i am by now, which is blue cross/ruche -- blue shield. host: thank you for the call. john. republicans line. caller: good morning. as i understand it, in 2006, mass. required everyone had
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insurance and we did not do anything to address costs. now, six years later, we are trying to address cost, and we are doing something similar to what the affordability care act is doing, penalizing hospitals for readmission. i would like your feedback, so we all know that 70%-to-80% of our medical issues are tied to social behavior. if i am a smoker, if i drink, recovery rates, readmission rates will be higher than someone who drinks green tea and eat oatmeal. if there is a big difference. if i was a provider and i knew i would give penalized, i would do a profile to find out what your lifestyle is, and i would only want to treat the healthy people. it took thank you for the call. christine mcconville, does that
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come into play in the massachusetts law? guest: not really. one of the concerns was that insurers or health-care providers could pick and choose their patients, so that is why they said everybody has to have insurance so that everybody has access. it will not work if we could pick and choose. that is the basis of the individual mandate. a couple of notes about what john was saying. about personal behavior, yesterday i did an article about the massachusetts medical society's latest work force evaluation study. basically, they go around, interviewing doctors, asking what they think about their profession, and i spoke to the massachusetts medical society's current president who said if you are obese, you need to stop eating so much. if you are a smoker, you need to stop smoking. it is the first time i heard a
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physician, out and say yes, we are doing what we can as a medical community, as a care- giving community, but the patient has to step up. i had really not heard that that much prior to that. the other piece of this is with phase two of massachusetts health-care reform, where they are addressing the costs, a number of hospitals are now rolling out what is called medical homes. i recently went to one that is part of a women's solicited -- facility here in boston. basically, it is designed to help change people's personal behavior that leads to greater health insurance costs. instead of this massive, sprawling urban campus where you have to go in and it is clinical
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and sterile, the state thinks that in order to reduce costs, we will make health care more accessible and more comfortable by providing these group homes -- i forget what they're called. i think they're called medical group homes. essentially, they are off campus, small facilities, and you would see your physician, but you would associate nutritionist who looks at what you are eating, a pharmacist who would review your medications to say this might negatively interact with that. you would sit down with a community person that would sit down and say maybe you should think about going to this aa meeting, or a program for grandmothers with diabetes. the feeling is it would be a wellness holistic approach instead of just seeing a doctor and a doctor saying you have an
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extra 50 pounds, i will make an appointment for a nutritionist or a dietitian, and then you have to go back in six months or whenever the person could see you. they want a one-stop-shop, a smaller, easier facility, away from a sprawling campus. that is what we are rolling out here in massachusetts. host: you can read our guest stories in "the boston herald." christine mcconville is a reporter. we are talking about governor romney's health care law signed in 2006 when he was in office. shelly joins us from new york, new york, and our democrats lined. caller: what i do not understand about this health care is i understand the insurance companies and the policy makers are working together.
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these people go into the hospital, and they get five stitches and it is a $500 bill. if we can have health care all over the world, why can we not have it here in the united states? it seems like it is more money, more money, more money. doctors are supposed to take care of people, but everything has become a money issue now, and the insurance companies are driving it up. obama-care -- i think it would be great if we say we could pay this insurance company, but they would say the government is paying this, let's raise the premiums higher to make a person keep going into their pocket and paying and paying. host: let's talk about the cost of health care in
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massachusetts, and "the boston globe did -- go" did an analysis. it shows that the state share, the federal per dissipation, and in the health system. christine mcconville talk to us about how the numbers balance out, and who is paying a lot of the bill. guest: well, what shelley was saying -- you know, it is $500 sometimes to go to the hospital and get a shot or a vaccine, but there is a formula you probably do not see. let's go back to the roofer who does not have insurance, falls off of the house and breaks his back. he is in the hospital for three months. the hospital needs to recoup costs some how, some where. what they say is mrs. jones,
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with private insurance, we have been charging you for hundred dollars for your vaccine. we have a gaping hole in our budget because we had to provide coverage to the person who did not have insurance and that bill was $100,000. now, in order to fill that gap, we will start charging a little bit more for the services that get compensated by private health insurance companies. so, the flu vaccine had been $400. now it is $500. what happens then is the insurance companies turn around and say "listen, people, we have increased health-care costs, so we will increase premiums. tell you and i spend more, and the economy does not get the money in terms of wages, of goods, etc..
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what i can tell you his best there has been massive scrutiny of people's bills. most people get a bill from their health insurance company, and they say my deductible was $50, two hundred dollars, and they pay it. i have been doing a column for "the boston herald," and people say i went to the hospital, i felt dizzy, and the ambulance took me from this part of the campus to that part of the campus, i demanded to see the bill, and i was charged $900 for a three-minute ambulance ride. i could have and what have walked. so, there is this awareness of what people are paying, and a lot of it is a result of all of this rhetoric. we did a story of a woman who was astounded to find she had to pay a room feet to see the physician -- room c to see the
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position. she paid to see the physician, then patients rent rooms when they go into the medical center. she did the know about that. most people did not know about that, but by demanding the full bill in accounting, she has awareness. so, people are scrutinizing bills like never before. now, about the insurance company's compensation and things like that, obama-care has an element to it aimed at limiting how much health insurance companies can put into their administrative costs. the massachusetts law, it is a little different. some of the architects, the people that put it together are the same, but the massachusetts law, again, phase one, getting people injured, and we are
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focused on drilling down on the cost -- insured, and now we're focused on drilling down on the cost. obama-care took care of everything at once. they're going to put policies in place. health insurance companies cannot get away with using 50% of their revenue for executive retreats or executive pay. i think 80% of the money they bring in has to be spent on provider care, but i would have to double check the numbers. host: let's but some other big picture numbers of the cost of the health care law from 2006- 2011 -- $9 billion was the price tag. dave joins us from massachusetts. good morning. caller: this is another way
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they're getting revenue from us, and a lot of people do not know about this, but it happened to my father. he was elderly, had an injury, and was on massachusetts' health care for a short time, and he had money in the stock market. he was not in the condition to know this stuff, but after he passed, they put a claim in for every penny that he had, and they started going after his house -- and i am sure this happens to a lot of elderly people. they think they have to be a massachusetts healthcare, and he really had no idea what he was doing, and we were not around enough. i think this happens to a lot of people. there you begin losing their house, money that their children
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should be getting or grandchildren, and i would like to know if there is anything on that amount they are getting from that type of behavior? host: thank you, dave. let's go to christine mcconville. guest: this is the first time hearing of this. if your father is elderly, would he not be any government program like medicare? host: i'm sorry, he is not on the line, but talk about how that works in massachusetts. it is -- is it different than anyplace else in the country? guest: i do not know the particulars of the circumstance, but if you are elderly, the government program for older people is still there. masshealth, and i do not know the particulars, but my understanding is that as for the working poor, the people that
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have some income, but cannot qualify for medicaid or do not have a private insurer. so, i am not sure. i would have to look into that more. host: thank you. from twitter -- who enforces romney care, a separate agency, or does the tax man take that role? how was it enforced, christine mcconville? guest: it depends. in a nutshell, if you do not have insurance, the state department of revenue figures that out when you file your massachusetts taxes, and a fine you. the state, when they said everybody has to have insurance, created a new quasi- public agency called the massachusetts house connector authority, and that agency acts as a one-stop-shop for people.
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you can go on and compare plans. in terms of the enforcement of the penalty end, it would be the department of revenue. in terms of offering insurance plans to people who do not have it either through government programs or their private employer, the connector authority would be the place to go, and you could say this is what i could afford, this is what i am looking for, this is the deductible i am comfortable paying, and they will say we have seven programs, we would recommend this one. there are also people on a hot line as well. host: let's hear from david in wisconsin on our independent line. caller: i guess the real question that i need to ask your guest is whether we believe we live in a democracy, or a
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republic. with any thing to do with somebody tell me what i can do or what i cannot do, that is unconstitutional. i could say that the insurance company says you have to pay or we will take your house, or your stocks, like your last caller, when do you think the people will blow up? i mean, you screw up on all the other -- drug war, social security, and you think giving your health, your own body to the government is the correct thing? we have been america for a long time. we are a strong company -- country. if you do not have good friends, you do not have good health, but nobody in the government is your friend.
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host: christine mcconville, you talk about one gentleman resisting the penalties or paying for health insurance, and filed a lawsuit. how did governor romney justify when this law was signed to constituents and republicans, combating what our caller raised concerns about? we're looking at a story from "the boston globe" that looks at the history of it and it says that governor romney got some conservative ideas in order to get the health care law put forward. can you tell us about his justification? guest: sure. governor romney was not the person who put this together. it was a multi-pronged, bipartisan group. he signed it into law, however, the philosophy behind it is that
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everybody has to get insurance or he just does not work. we have people -- or eight just does not work. we have people that say i cannot afford insurance, so let's use the money that had previously gone for the uncompensated care corp. let's put that into subsidize people that truly cannot afford health insurance, then tell the insurance companies you cannot pick and choose. you cannot deny people if they have a pre-existing condition or if they are too sick. that is the next leg of the store. in order for the subsidies to be fair and for the insurance companies to go along with this no pre-existing -- no provisions for pre-existing causes, the you have to require that everybody is in, where nobody is in.
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health insurance companies said to the legislators, look, we are concerned. we understand people are worried that they cannot get health insurance because they had cancer when they were a baby or a heart murmur, and insurance is completely not affordable. if we agree to provide insurance to everyone without these checks, what is to stop someone from coming in for 3 or four months, paying their premiums, getting everything taking -- taken care of, and knocking out again? it is sort of a free rider. it is a three-legged stool. i cannot get into the politics or the dynamics, but i can know that the architects of the massachusetts health reform law
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will say anyone who drives a car in massachusetts has to have health -- car insurance, and it is part of a lot. it is not unconstitutional. it is part of been a driver. they feel their government is getting crushed by rising health insurance costs, gobbling up more and more of the budget, so they say we need to do something to cut those costs, and the first part of that is get everyone insured so that people do not go to the emergency room when they have a headache but they have not treated for seven days passed as soon as the head it clears up, call their primary physician and get a prescription for something stronger than aspirin. that will take a little bit of the bite out of the ever- increasing health-care costs. host: "the boston globe koko looked at what was happening before 2006, and the question
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was whether people should be required to pay a penalty if they refuse. go to carl, new york, new york, and our democrats line. caller: this morning. christine mcconville, with all the people not paying taxes, that is one of the reasons there is less money for medicare, and also because we have so many people coming into the country as immigrants, that is another reason. why can they not get a
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universal health care, with all the money that people pay into medicaid, why can't they not get a health-care policy for everyone because people are entitled to it? guest: that is a great question, and i do not think i can answer it. you would need to speak to a health policy expert, because frankly it is something people have been wrestling with for a very long time, and i do not know why -- i do not know why they cannot get that. with let's put the numbers what happens if people do not enrolled in a health plan.
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how are massachusetts residents dealing with those numbers? we see a drop in those choosing not to get insurance. is that something governor deval patrick and others are noting th? guest: absolutely. "the boston herald" and other newspapers did a series of stories last year when the health care reform law was 5 years old, and the policy people behind it will tell you it was an unmitigated success. if we got the numbers up. people that i know that are going through the health insurance connector, either they do not make enough money, they have been laid off, and they
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cannot afford cobra, or their business just does not provide health insurance because there is only 15 employees. they'd really like their options. they also hope they do not get sick because of high deductibles and co-pays, but i know people that are on the program, they feel it is affordable, and they are not worried about getting hit by a car and becoming bankrupted by enormous, enormous health-care costs, because they have insurance. host: on that five-year anniversary, our guest, christine mcconville, wrote the story. let's hear from chris in brooklyn, new york on the republican line. caller: thank you very much, and thank you for c-span. i would like to address auto insurance. driving a car is a privilege. living is not a privilege.
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auto insurance it is in case i hit the other guy, paying for his car and for his injury, not for my own. health insurance is for my own, so that auto insurance example is a terrible one. auto insurance is not for me, it is for the other one, in case i hurt him. host: are you hearing that argument from people in massachusetts, christine mcconville? guest: not really. i brought that up. that is what the advocates say. i am not making that argument. i'm just pointing out that that is how they defend questions about whether it is constitutional or not. in massachusetts, no. i think that michael merlina was outraged by the state saying you
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can afford this. he feels the state has no business telling him what he could afford, but the health insurance, auto insurance issue, that seems like more of a national talking point related to the obama porsche than it is here in massachusetts. in massachusetts, maybe they are resigned to it because it is now six years in the making that we have had this. there are also concerns about the ever-increasing costs of health care, and that shows up with insurance premiums, of course. they are happy to see some movement, and there are discussions about whether it will work and we can afford this, but we do not hear much about the auto insurance, health insurance debate here in massachusetts. host: one big question, but let's try to do it quickly -- from twitter, one of the differences were similarities between obama's health-care bill ann romney's health-care bill.
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can you give this a big similarity and a big difference? guest: the ann romney bill, mass. health reform -- the romney bill, mass. health insurance, and said we need to expand health insurance by making sure everybody has health insurance, and once that is in place, we will start looking at the cost of health care. the discussion came out because there is a theory that health- care costs are a two-headed beast. we have this enormously growing health-care industry, and costs are rising. people are living longer. the care that we get down is really expensive. mri machines, arthroscopes -- all of the other things that you expect when you go in with a headache, you want somebody to do a scan of your brain instead
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of just telling you to take two aspirin. so, there is a massive increase in health care cost that is eating up more and more of our government's budget. at the same time, there is a growing number of people that are uninsured. it could be one in the same. they could not afford the insurance because the health- care costs so much, insurance costs so much, but for whatever reason, people are not insured. romney care went after one head first, the on insurance, and now they're going after the second part, and obama-care is looking to slay the beast completely. at the same time that everyone needs to have health insurance, they also say they are cutting costs. so, those are the main differences. they are both seeking to achieve
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the same end, but through different phases. what was the second part? host: i think you answered it. thank you. christine mcconville is a reporter from "the boston herald" talking about the health care law governor romney signed into law in 2006, looking at history and perspective on that. thank you for during us from newton, massachusetts. guest: thank you. thank you for having me. host: next we will have a roundtable discussion on social media involvement in the presidential campaign. how is playing out in social media and the web. later, a report released by the college board found that 2012 s.a.t. scores dropped. james montoya joins us to discuss the findings, but first kevin brennan joined is to preview the texas senate debate
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tonight. talk about the race. who is ahead, and what issues have been at play? guest: the start of the debate will most likely be ted cruz, former solicitor general, who has emerged as a rising star of the party. he defeated a favored debate in a republican party runoff earlier this summer. he was chosen to address the broad -- republican national convention, and entered the debate with a huge lead in the polls and over -- in fundraising. host: what should viewers be watching for? guest: sadler has pitched this
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debate as a chance to catch up to ted cruz, painting him as an extremist, a tea party figure that is out for the national conservative movement more than the voters of texas. you will see ted cruz focus on the economy and criticizing president obama. host: the biggest issues that the moderator's will ask for the candidates will bring up. you mention the economy, what else will we see? guest: one of the surprising candidacyf sadler's is his one the few democrats in a red state that has embraced the obama health care law. ted cruz will hammer him on the affordable care act. host: kevin brennan will air --
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kevin brennan. we will have that debate tonight. coming up, more about social media and camping 2012, but first this news update. >> it is 8:44 eastern time. reporters in kabul, afghanistan, report that american generals and civilian officials have all but written off their strategy to end the afghan war by forcing the taliban into a peace deal, with the plan replaced by a goal of setting the stage for the afghans to work out a deal for themselves. critics of the obama administration say the united states weakened its own hand by agreeing to the 2012 deadline, and the administration officials say the deadline is crucial. meanwhile, the nato secretary
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general says the retreat of western forces from afghanistan could come sooner than expected, adding that their recent green- on-blue killings have been successful in sapping morale. turning to presidential politics, a judge rules whether to keep intact pennsylvania put the new law requiring voters to show photo id in the election. there is a supreme court order to will no later than today at 5:00 p.m., five weeks before voters go to the polls. homeland security is reporting that one border patrol agent has been killed and one wounded in an arizona shooting. we'll keep you updated. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> when nation's chief in trade, and china has cheated, i will do something the president has not been willing to do, call them on the carpet and label them a
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currency manipulator. >> we brought more trade cases against china in one term in the previous administration did him in two, and we have been winning those cases >> wednesday, president obama and mitt romney need in their first presidential debate. watch and engage on c-span with our live debate preview, followed by two ways to watch the debate on c-span. on c-span 2, the multi-camera version. following, your reaction, calls and tweets. >> i have all the channels -- house, senate, author, book reviews, speeches, those kinds of things. if i know a bill is coming up on the floor of the house, i watch which carol i want to see,
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because i have them all. if there is a speech that i know you have covered or a book review, i am going to watch that. when i want to find out something that has some value to it, that is going to be one of the first places i looked. i'm a public broadcasting fan. i watched those channels. out of a couple of 1 -- hundred channels i have five or 10 that i will go to and it will include all of the c-span channels. david brugger watches c-span on direct tv. c-span, secreted by cable companies in 1979, brought to you by a service by your provider. "washington journal" continues. host: lauren ashburn is editor in chief and founder of the
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"daily download," and howard kurtz, editor of "the daily beast." we want to talk about social media and the campaign. talk about how the media is looking at the presidential campaign. guest: i think they are covering the horse race at this point -- what do they need to do, each of them, to knock it out of the park? how important will this debate be going forward in setting expectations? howard and i disagree, but i think it is not that important. guest: not that important? guest: i told you. we have our routine down. i think people that are independent voters will not be tunisia in until closer to the election, and i like -- to remain in until closer to the
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election, and i likened it to sports. i'm not a baseball fan, but i have learned that the nationals won the division, and now i will start to pay attention. host: howard kurtz, is the media focusing exclusively on the horse race? guest: what i would use to describe the coverage is breathless. the coverage is quite breathless. i do not want to understate the importance that people are just turning to 2 mid-at mitt romney have three debates to change -- tunisia in. mitt romney have three debates to change the dynamic of this race. he might not have a better opportunity. the thing that we do every four years, those of us in the new business, is we treat this like a big boxing match where somebody knocks somebody else out, and that almost never happens.
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guest: there are a couple of examples. there is dan quayle, and lloyd bentsen saying i know jfk, you are no jfk. we watched al gore as he was signing and moaning for rob the debate with george w. bush, which cost him a lot -- sign in and moaning throughout the debate the george w. bush, which cost compared the -- cost him the debate. if there are not a lot of those 47% comments that president running mate -- did i say president running? -- mitt romney? mitt romney apologized. host: let's look at tom and said governor romney made yesterday about the debate. -- that governor romney made yesterday about the debate.
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[video clip] >> there is a lot of interest, people want to know who will win, who will score, and in my view it is not winning and losing, or the people themselves, the president and myself. it is about something bigger than that. these debates are about the pathway for word for america that we would choose, and the american people will have to make their choice. i look forward to these debates. i am delighted that we will have three debates. he will be a conversation with the american people that will span almost an entire month. host: mitt romney on the campaign trail yesterday. we have seen the candidates talk about this low expectation game. howard kurtz, caucus through what they have been saying. -- talk us through what they have been saying. guest: the president has been
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saying governor romney is a good debater, and i am ok, and the run the campaign has called president obama one of the best in history. all of this is so the romany people could say he did better than expected. everybody knows the candidates are doing this. i do not think anyone is terribly fooled. host: let's look at president obama sunday in nevada. [video clip] >> you might have heard that in a few days my opponent in this election and i are going to have a debate. i am looking forward to it. i know folks in the media are speculating on who will have the best designers. -- zingers. i do not know about that.
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who is going to put the most points on the board -- governor romney is a good debater. i am just ok. but, but what -- what i am most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing and restore security for hard-working americans. that is what people will be listening for. that is the debate that you deserve. host: president obama on sunday. lauren ashburn, what is the media put the job as the candidates make these low- expectation remarks -- what is the job of social media and journalism in communicating that to the american people? guest: you heard him say people will be looking for zingers. that is true. if you around twitter, and you
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can watch out people like to send those out, and add their own comments. twitter is a form of communication where you can be more snarky than you can be in print or on line. i think the zingers will play a factor inside the beltway. guest: i think it will be a factor in all 50 states. i'm sure there will be a lot of good exchanges, and there will be exchanges of views on medicare, the economy, tax cuts, the deficit, all of that -- what will be replayed on line, on cable television, on the broadcast networks, are a couple of 20-second exchanges. there tend to be these moments of body language. the mitt romney camp, somebody said daywork and projecting
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personal warmth. a lot of this is not just looking at the transcript, -- said they would it be projecting personal want. a lot of this is not just looking at the transcript, but how people react to them as potential visitors in their living room for the next four years. do can join the conversation. terrapin numbers to call -- host: you can join the conversation. here are the numbers to call let's hear from katharine in ohio. caller: i have two questions. i want answers from romney, not rhetoric. you can take all the time you need and answer questions. the republicans have been looking for a voter fraud, and now we have found it, it is in your camp, and what are you,
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republicans, going to do about it? you are so hot to put democrats under the boss. let's see if you will throw your own people under the bust. i understand that for each count of voter fraud, they would receive three-to-five years in prison, and i want it done. i want her penalized to the max. i'm from hamilton county, cincinnati. thank you. host: lauren ashburn. guest: you raise an important point. the insert piece of this -- mitt romney, even conservatives say this, like david brooks, the "new york times" columnist, what people are looking for our definitive answers to how he will fix the economy. use of paul ryan over the weekend talking about -- you saw
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paul ryan over the weekend talking about how he does not have time to explain the numbers in his budget. people want that explanation and are creeping back from the governor. guest: given the constraints of the debate format, they will not give chapter and verse from the town and its parent -- from the candidates. this is more important for mitt romney. he benefits as a challenger from standing on the same stage as the incumbent president of the united states, but there is a greater burden to convince the wavering voters, the 12 or 14 people that i've not made up their minds in this election. host: post-debate spin, howard kurtz, how important is that,
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and how social media plays a more important role? guest: the post-debate spin, i think it is critical, as people watched the debate, but they can make up their own mind, but that is an hour and half. what you get for the next several days or a week are the clips that are replayed, the chair by the commentators. you mentioned the al gore eye- rolling that was not talked about the night it happened. it was talked about after examining the tape. john kerry, he won the first two debates against george w. bush. in the third debate team a day reference to -- in the third debate he did well, but made a reference to vice-president dick
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cheney's daughter being a lesbian, and the republicans pushed back. guest: for those and not been in a -- they go into the spin room. you get to talk to them. the journalists take that with a grain of salt. in.y are expecting the sp they expect them to tell you how great they did. an important piece of this comes from media analysis where you take a step back and look at it . look at how the media -- were they spun? guest: i will be in the spin
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room and i expect to be a little dizzy. caller: i have to say that i think there is a liberal bias in the media and it is so clear and so obvious. not just based on studies and conservative groups. look at the coverage over libya. our embassy was burning overseas. killed.plomats were cl the news coverage was about mitt romney's gaffes. not about the changing story. if george bush was president, i think this would be a major scandal. yet it has been completely under
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played by the mainstream media. every romney gaffe is amplified and the media obsesses over mistakes that romney makes. mitt romney is not running the best campaign. that is pretty obvious. i think of mitt romney had said "the bump in the road" , then, it would be a week-long scandal. guest: we both tried to hold the media accountable. of course there is a liberal bias in the media. i agree with the caller that it obvious.e i
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look at chris wallace and his interview on fox would paul ryan. he was very hard on paul ryan and held him accountable. milk of the widow - -neal cavuto asked some tough questions of mitt romney. i feel their people out there that are trying not to let their by a show -- not to let their bias show. guest: "the 47% comment" that was a setback for him that still resonates today. at the same time, it does seem that because romney is a challenger, there's been a lot
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more scrutiny of romney and his missteps then the president and libya and that is a good example of that. i think it is appropriate for a journalist to be aggressive in covering mitt romney. ryan let's listen to paul on fox news sunday talking about expectations of governor romney's debate performance. [video clip] >> i did not think one event will make her break this campaign. president obama is a very gifted speaker. the man has been on the national stage for many years. he has done these debates before. >> 23 debates in the primary.
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>> people will see who is mitt romney. host: that this paul ryan on "fox news sunday." chris christie raised expectations. how much of this is a planned strategy? how does the media handle the layout that has been prepared as the go into tomorrow night? guest: he wandered off the script. people forget that during the primaries, mitt romney was very tough. he dispatched newt gingrich and rick santorum. it is harder when you're standing up there one by one. that was paul ryan saying let's lower the bar so if romney does
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reasonably well, people will say, what a surprise. host: james from michigan. caller: the media bias depends which channel you watch. fox news is biased to the conservative point of view. i find it hard to believe that no one polls high enough to get into a debate with these other people, barack obama and mitt romney. they are so will finance it keeps everybody else out of it. i think we need another point of view. look at the facts. they seemed so much alike. guest: i could not agree more.
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we are so entrenched in the two- party system. ross perot did not get very far. guest: he got 19% of the votes. guest: now he would have to do 10 times to keep up with the other candidates. guest: the caller said you can see the media bias because fox leans.rle you see that as a stand in for almost all of the media. you have magazines, websites. those cable networks -- many of the people who were there are pushing an ideological agenda have become a shorthand for immediate as a whole. there are reporters that try to
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beat down the middle. i work at cnn and i think cnn tries to work down the middle. host: what is the role of social media and how is that changing this campaign season? guest: facebook has opened a washington, d.c., office, and very aggressive in getting people to vote. they have done in partnership with cnn. they are trying to get people to share information. the candidates have a robust presence on facebook. president obama has close to 20 million likes. governor romney has close to seven million. if friends are sharing political
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information to others friends, those friends are more likely to lean toward that candidate. they want -- they trust their friends. that goes back to the media bias. guest: i am on twitter all the time. it breaks the stranglehold. anybody can be a broadcaster. anybody can reach the other people if they can amass a following. you account for that and people may follow whose views they agree. guest: or they may say, i am this person because i cannot stand what they are saying.
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they are attracting a younger vote. the obama campaign is buying ads on the video games. then on the nfl madden video game. look at the game. it says, "vote." "go to this site to register to vote." president obama started that social media trend. host: one of our guests, lauren ashburn, recently had a piece about the use of younger websites and games to target audiences. she writes --
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guest: if you do not know about social media and the word "pinterest" is foreign to you, there has been a video explanation of these sites. we have on our side 1-minute videos that tell you all you need to know about any one of the sites. we did about 30 or 40 of them. there are a tutorial for people who do not get it that want to get it. it is an important piece of
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information. guest: it is the equivalent of going on 'the view." they cannot just post something on facebook. they have to go find voters who did not watch cnn are major consumers of political news. you see things light madden nfl games. host: good morning, mickey. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. registered democrat for a long time. i'm taking mitt romney's side on this one. i'm kind of scared if obama gets in for another quite sure years. i do not want socialism.
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i am out of work since january. i got laid off by a democrat. $40,000 a plate for democrats to support obama. why do they blame the rich people? too.have moneyo, right now i'm supporting mitt romney. host: let's get a response. guest: i am sorry that you lost your job. what is says is our economy is not on track. president obama knows that and his message is, "give me four more years." the message from mitt romney is,
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"get out of here. you have had enough time." that will be a crucial issue. people are looking for those messages. guest: it tends to get lost. not blaming that on the financial mess. of course it will affect him and his political outlook and his vote if he has felt the sting of this recession and getting laid off. a lot of people have been out of work for a long time. some of the jobs may not be coming back. anybody from the romney camp may be looking for this caller.
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guest: lois romano was talking about the people that en.t jobs mostly were white ma republicans have traditionally gone towards republicans anyway. he has the ability to capture your vote. host: lauren ashburn is the editor in chief of "daily download." howard kurtz is an adviser to the "daily download." guest: brand confusion.
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host: jenny on our republican line -- jimmy. caller: where is the media on gas prices, food prices? the liberal media is not doing us any justice. what if this was bush or 57 states? host: we're hearing this liberal media claim. guest: i don't think there's been a shortage of reporting on the ailing state of the economy. when somebody says "thank god for fox news," they have a point of view that we're easier on barack obama then we work and george bush.
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we talked about gas prices. the problem is the housing prices have plummeted and have not come back. the jobs have lost. this recovery cannot gain steam . i don't think this is an under reported story. guest: i see very few stories about gas prices and that impacts everyday lives. here it is. was a managing editor for 10 years -- i was a managing editor for 10 years at "usa today." i think that the media could do a better job of covering that story and other stories like it that have an impact on pocketbooks.
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host: doug from pennsylvania, welcome. caller: at the end of the day, in terms of moving forward, could you please tell me what i'm talking about? tell me what the pundits and politicians are saying, what they mean when they say these things? how many times did paul ryan say, "at the end of the day"? maybe you should take people literally when they say "at the end of the day." "at the end of the day i take off my clothing and go to bed.' could you buy these people a thesaurus? guest: i happened to hate that
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phrase. newt gingrich always says " frankly this" and "frankly that." 't point.u can poin guest: it is inside the beltway speak. you are thinking about what you're going to say. "i have this point i have to hit." guest: "let me be clear." "make no mistake." presidential poll. president obama, 50%.
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mitt romney, 47%. how influential is it in the media chamber? guest: the campaigns are obsessing on the polls. the import numbers of the numbers in eight or nine key states. here's my beef about the coverage. we want to know who will win. it seeps into all the coverage when one candidate is down. everything he says is seen as a semi desperate attempt to close the gap. i think the coverage has become so poll-driven. it would be different if brought
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barack obama were down by five points. guest: i did not think we do a good job of getting into the middle of the country and talking to those folks. .ou're sitting in a studio a poll comes across and now you have something that's right in front of you that you can talk about. because of budget cuts, you are not seeing the expense -- people are not spending the money to get people talking to people. guest: there are a relative handful of people that still go knocking on doors. you always learn something when you talk to voters. i think there should be more of
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that. guest: you are agreeing with me. host: let's hear from an independent caller, suh irley. caller: it is nice to talk with you. i watch cnn and fox. one thing none have reported -- i am 80 years old. i was born during the wpa. i know -- i think our money has been spent foolishly in the white house. they have put a clamp on a story that came now. remember when mr. obama said stay out of mexico on spring break? his daughter took a dozen
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friends and 25 secret servicemen to mexico. the cost was enormous. i think that should be reported. republican or democrat, i do not think there force one should go so often on campaigning. guest: i think you have a valid point about the overspending in washington. i think a lot of people know that. i do not think that we do a good job there either. one of the pieces that we did yesterday was talking about how many are not covering house races. that's where you have an opportunity to vote the bums out.
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the democrats need 25 seats, if not more, to have a majority and the house. that story is not being reported. guest: it is easy to plot an example about how much air force one is being used or were the president's family is vacationing. the white house is overspending. every dollar has to be approved by congress. both parties are complicit in that and have been unable to reach a budget deal that would take a cut in spending and perhaps raise revenue. guest: that will be evident in january. everybody is so focused on the
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horse race. we need to find this stuff. host: let's hear from shirley. caller: i studied politics all the time. ever since i saw the first tv. i study everything about who they are connected with. i'm not -- i am voting for democrats this time. host: let's go to marcia. caller: look at to pay picked to be the moderator. david gregory was on. now we'll have -- the republicans run against a headwind everytime. c-span spent three days about the truth of what romney said
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about people paying income tax. nothing about the obama campaign saying they will write off the blue-collar worker or people clinging to their guns and religion. oken about thespea video, a terrorist attack. our heroes died. valerie jarrett is on vacation. she had more protection than they did. the issues look at about moderators. host: we can see who the other
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moderator's s are. how much of a role of these moderators playing? guest: they are very important. they are taking the approach when you want to be a star of the show. i talk to jim lehrer about this in number of times. bob schieffer, both sides trust him. what they will try to do is elicit information from the candidates and that the it.nents' goal a at guest: i agree. i think jim lehrer who has done
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this for years and years -- people keep calling him back into that. i think that charles's are getting a-- i think that journalists are getting a bum rap. you have to look at these individuals on their overall record. guest: it is hard to critique how the moderators did. but to say you think they are not going to be fair, think that is a bum rap. caller: how are you doing? thank you for the hard work that you do. it is getting better as we go. i want to make a comment.
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there was a statement earlier about a guy who lost his job. half of america lost their jobs. if you do not vote, you don't have a chance to cast your opinion. you want representatives to represent you. you cannot work for something and then give up on that. america was not built on that. i'm cool with everything. i lost my job also. i was also paying taxes. that did not discourage me. america, we're built tougher than that. we have to work on the real meat and potatoes of the issue.
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guest: i think that what you're raising is an important part -- we need to vote in this country. the numbers are staggering of people who do not vote or registered to vote. there are websites that make it easy. there is absentee voting. that is an issue that is not covered enough. it is more important than ever to vote. i am shocked that people do not cover media and politics or they do not follow it. i am on it 24/7. turn off the sports and start participating in the conversation, even if it doesn't
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matter that much to you because there are a lot of people without jobs. host: what role does the media play in motivating people? how is the media covering the apathy? guest: i were at the we have projected the image that politics is a game and it is all about slam-dunk the other guy. not just for president but for senator and governor. it does matter what a president can do about the economy. but appointing supreme court justices and regulatory policies. i wonder if the cynicism has seeped down to a lot of people. when people do not vote, it is
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kind of a statement that nothing is going to change. that it doesn't matter whether they vote or not. guest: as anthony said, america was built on people that get up and start again and overcome anniversary and keep fighting and keep trying to make changes. by giving that up is just not productive. host: lauren ashburn, thank you so much. howard kurtz, host of "reliable sources," thank you as well. coming up next, s.a.t. scores.
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we'll talk about that. >> some news on the economy. u.s. home prices jumped 4.6% in august compared to a year ago. that is the largest increase in over six years. prices rose from july. this points to a housing recovery that economists believe is becoming sustainable. chrysler said their u.s. sales rose 12%. the increase was due to new models and a stable u.s. economy. industry analysts predicting u.s. sales of more than 1.1 million vehicles for september,
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an increase of 11%. new political ads hit the airwaves today. the biggest push so far in the 2012 cycle. they are airing in eight presidential battlegrounds. american crossroad spending $11 million on a spot called " actually happened." the ad is running in eight dollar ground states including nevada, ohio, and virginia. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. [video clip] >> this is a true story of 10 days in london in 1854.
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it is a story of an outbreak that took place during this period. the first half of the book is so boring and frightening as the outbreak just devastates a neighborhood in soho. it turns into a much more optimistic story. the events of this stretch of time turn out to be essential to solving the riddle of where the cholera was coming from and setting up a series of public health initiatives for basically eliminating cholera as a threat. >> steven johnson is our guest depth."ay on 'in- he will get popular culture and computer networking and politics, i've at noon eastern
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on "book tv." journal"ington continues. host: james montoya is our guest. what is the college board? guest: a membership organization of over 6000 educational institution knows, organizations that are all focused on connecting students to college success. host: and the purpose of the s.a.t.? when it was first created? guest: the s.a.t. has been around for decades. the idea was to create a more level playing field for students, but sickly for those
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that lived in axa's that might not have access to the interview campus. it provided an opportunity for us nationally to have an examination that all colleges could use to help them in the admissions process. host: there are now three sections of it. guest: the third section is been in place about eight years. the s.a.t. is measuring those skills that are necessary for college success -- reading, writing, and mathematics. host: there is a recent report -- what is the date take away -- what is the big take away?
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guest: when students take a vigorous course " in high school, they do better in high school, better on the s.a.t., and are more prepared for college. we have to be focused on having more students who enter college being better prepared to do it the greater of college course work. the test is one aspect of the admissions process. what a student does in high school is key to his or her success. what we found is that only 43% of those students who took the s.a.t. based on our bench park are prepared to handle the rigors of college work. host: test scores fell in two of the three sections. reading drop to the lowest
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level in four decades. guest: what it means to the nation is that we need to be more focused in making certain that students in our secondary schools are in fact enrolled in more rigorous courses. when we look at the students who completed a core curriculum which the big four years of english, three years of science, math, and social science, compared to those who didn't complete a core curriculum, those who completed the core curriculum scored 144 points higher than those who did not. when we look at those who took honors courses, they scored nearly 300 points above those who did not take honors or ap courses. rigor of the academic course load in high school leads to do
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better on the s.a.t. and leads students to being better prepared for college. let me give you this information in terms of framing the challenge of our country faces. for every 100 ninth graders, only 70 will graduate from high school. 44 local want to college. only 30 students will enroll in the second year of college. only 21 will graduate from a four-year institution in a six- year period of time. that is not good enough to keep the united states competitive in a global economy. we are very much focused on having high expectations for all students and doing what we can to better prepare students for college success and keep those
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high expectations for all students coming from all different communities and social economic backgrounds. host: james montoya is vice president of college board higher education relationship development. if you would like to join the conversation, here are the numbers to call. high school students and parents can join us. republicans, 202-585-3881. democrats, 202-585-3880. independents, 202-585-3882. scotty in florida. hi. good morning. caller: i was wondering geographically in the national
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score which states graduated to the top? ?id you have that statistic guest: a different level of participation in the s.a.t. from state to state --that is not how we look at s.a.t. scores. those states that focus on rigor in the classroom tend to have students that do better on the s.a.t. when states' focus on the rigor in the classroom incurred all students, even those that may choose not to go to college to take a rigorous course load. they just tend to be better prepared not only for college but also for career. host: larry from new york on a
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republican line. caller: i was in school board member for a number of years in upstate new york. i saw was going wrong. it is not that the students do not have the ability to get higher scores. the parents is the main problem. the parents are not pushing the students in the right direction. the parents don't care what the students are doing. they think it is a game and the joke. it is not a game or a joke. this will never get any better. that is why the students fall so far behind students all over the world. that is my comment. guest: the schools cannot do this alone. we have to make an effort to
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help all parents understand the fact that what a student is doing in high school is going to impact the doors of opportunity that sons and daughters will have in the future. parents have to be an important partner in the college process. be as well informed as they can be and hold those high standards for their sons and daughters and remind them that it does take hard work in a letter to be successful in high school and in college. host: a recent story from "the wall street journal" has this headline --
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host: why is this significant? guest: because all too often we allow the conversation to move to a larger and more diverse testing pool as an excuse for scores of going down. all student need to have the opportunity of a rigorous course load. i will use our advance placement program as a great example. we saw the highest scores since 2004. we have a million more participants in our ap program, a larger and much more diverse
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population. the average score is the highest it has been since 2004. as a nation, we need to be committed to rigor for all students to make certain that all students from all backgrounds have access to high- quality instruction. one thing that is clear to us is we are not seeing students participating in advanced courses at the same level. i was sharing information with colleagues -- when we look at calculus -- math and science and technology seem to be so important in establishing our place in a global economy. we see real distinctions between ethnic groups of those
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taking calculus in high school. we're seeing 14% of african- americans taking calculus. 44% of asian americans or 27% of whites taking calculus. within that group of students across all ethnic lines, there is great potential. we must give students the opportunity to engage in rigorous course work. so they have the opportunity of being successful in college, made during in the stem field and being successful in their careers. host: let's hear from bob, a parent in ohio. good morning. caller: the school system provides great education and
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gives --prepare as our students for college. i do have four children that have recently graduated. three are college students. even when they took the a.c.t or s.a.t, everything that is considered the river classes, there were questions that came out of nowhere that is nothing they ever learned -- everything that is considered the rigor classes. my daughter is very successful. she still found the testing was not accurate of the level of question that they received during the school year. guest: the s.a.t. one factor in the admissions process that needs to be considered.
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i had the good fortune of being the dean of admissions at occidental college, vassar college, and stanford university. the value of the s.a.t. is that it gives a snapshot, to accuse a yardstick at a national and international level to better understand a student. at the end of the day, there is no question that what a student accomplishes in high school is considered as most important black colleges and universities. while the s.a.t. is as good as a predictor of gpa, when you put together gpa and the s.a.t., it becomes a stronger predictor of success.
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it is one more snapshot of the student that helps in the overall evaluation of the student. but we do know that -- which incurred colleges to do validity studies. colleges and universities use the s.a.t. because it is a useful tool. one other point that i would add. of our s.a.t.-takers, 46% reported an a-level grade point average. you have 44% of over 6 million students presenting credentials of an a gpa -- to make the
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best decision possible. host: gavin is a student in florida. caller: hi. what do you think about charter schools to create competition on the quality of education? i am in a program. thank you for answering my question. host: have you taken the s.a.t.? caller: no. i'm a sophomore. i am an s.a.t. prep. i only scored a 490. host: is that something that is offered in your school? caller: it is being offered in
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my school. i go to public school. guest: whether a charter school or independent school public high school, what is most important is that institutions provide students a rigorous course load. you are taking i.b, which is and in research program. congratulations on taking that kind of challenge. whether students take ap, i.b., those who challenged themselves will do better in high school, do better on the s.a.t., and do better in college. i want to comment on preparation for the s.a.t. you raise the idea of whether gavin was taking a course for which he was paying. the best preparation for the s.a.t., a rigorous course load.
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also taking the psat, which helps to guide a student and points out strengths and weaknesses. students who take the psat to better on the s.a.t. because they are more familiar with the test. there is the research that indicates that paying thousands of dollars for s.a.t. prep is going to lead to higher scores. it is important that students and parents know that on the college board website, we have a free practice test. take challenges courses that focused on those areas that the s.a.t. measures -- reading, writing, and mathematics. host: james montoya. education at what correlation there might be
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between acid the scores among teenagers and their parents' education levels. we can see here -- host: why are these numbers significant? guest: what we know is that when a parent has a college degree, the student is going to be exposed and have in many cases good information on the college- going process. the point is that the policy level. we must do everything we can to support first generation families. 36% of the students who took the s.a.t. will be the first and their families to earn a college
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degree. that is great news. students who are coming from a background where college is not yet a tradition, often they don't have the same high-quality information. they may not know which courses to take. those rigorous courses. this is to point out that parental education in packs in today's world. we want to make sure that it doesn't. we want to make sure that every family have high-quality information. we have a college planning web site called the big future that we believe helps to level the playing field. we want to make certain that students coming from all backgrounds and especially our first generation minority
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students have access to high- quality college planning information. host: next call from albuquerque. caller: good morning. my big question is the discrepancy in conventional and nonconventional then our system that doesn't work well for people such as people applying for overseas. my brother applied from overseas got good information from somebody and he went on to harvard. i was kind of forced to come back to the state and ended up apply from within the country and everything was very lopsided for me.
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my knowledge as far as overall -- other people that have gotten scores somewhat above me, i didn't get accepted to better colleges but they did because they got their knowledge from this country. i spent most of my life overseas. i've known more information from overseas and knowing different culture, language, and all those things that people here did not study. host: we have a question from may follow work on twitter. how do you reach people light jamal? guest: i think these points are important to discuss. what we know based on extensive
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research and no test has been studied more than the s.a.t. it is a fair test. it is not a test that is biased. it is a test that measures reading, writing, and mathematics. i think it is important that all students take the practice s.a.t., the psat, take the s.a.t. and get a sense of what those opportunities are for them related to college. one thing that struck me in listening to the last question is the fact that admission indeed has become a global. there are students applying to american institutions from all over the world. our colleges and universities are trying to become more global
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in their approach. they are trying to become more inclusive as relates to the richness of our own diversity. i am pleased that the s.a.t. is a test that is helpful to all students. i want to go back to an important point. across all ethnic and social economic lines, we know is that when a student takes a rigorous course load, he or she does better in high school. they do better on the s.a.t. and are better prepared for college. i believe strongly as does the college board that we have to do a better job in making certain that students coming from all ethnicities and backgrounds have access to rigor and that we hold

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